The Shakespeare Conference: SHK 15.1419 Tuesday, 13 July 2004
Date: Monday, 12 Jul 2004 06:18:53 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: 15.1409 Harold Bloom on Teaching Shakespeare, etc
Comment: Re: SHK 15.1409 Harold Bloom on Teaching Shakespeare, etc
Richard Burt writes, "Who are the readers and who are the nonreaders?
It's not as simple as you might think...It's a broad generic distinction
between the people who have a fundamental passion for books and those
who don't. We haven't yet found an adequate way to explain it and,
frankly, I'm not sure that even education can affect it."
OK: give us a break will you. *Education* is the *reason* reading is
down. Ever been in a first-or-second grade classroom as a teacher? I
have. Ever seen their texts? God-awful! And the tests, multiple
OK: you *want* readers and writers? Start them reading and writing
about stuff they are interested in: themselves. Start with notebooks
filled with themselves, their friends, their interests, and throw all
the mass-produced, mass-selected, mass-marketed texts in the wastebasket.
OK: once they can *read* and *write* then they'll take interest in your
esoteric stuff. Listen, I know so-called *educated* adults who pass us
in the real world all the time who have read less than four books in
their lives. Ask around, it's an interesting statistic! Call that
*society*? Call our system *educational*? Computers are used by youths
for downloading music and games. America has a quarter billion
people--and half are not readers and writers. You cannot be proud of
American education. I was in *IT* and could not turn the Titanic from
the iceberg. Period.
S H A K S P E R: The Global Shakespeare Discussion List
The S H A K S P E R Web Site <http://www.shaksper.net>
DISCLAIMER: Although SHAKSPER is a moderated discussion list, the
opinions expressed on it are the sole property of the poster, and the
editor assumes no responsibility for them.